Monday, 29 May 2017

When George IV died, he was buried on his own instructions with a diamond-clad love token of his secret wife around his neck, cementing forever the illicit love which had scandalized society.

The token’s other half, a matching locket containing a miniature portrait of the king, was kept by Maria Fitzherbert, said to have been clutched in her own hand as she died in 1837.

200 years later that other half, which George IV as a handsome young knight, can be seen by the public for the first time, as the descendants of Mrs Fitzherbert offer it for sale. The locket, which is encrusted with 18 diamonds, is said to hold the key to the unconventional romantic life of George IV, who flouted convention and his duties to the crown for true love. The item, which has never been seen in public, is to be offered at Christie’s for an estimate of up to £120,000

According to records, this portrait and its twin each cost £26.5 around 1800, during a happy period in which the couple lived together in Brighton. While George IV was buried with the portrait of Maria, Mrs Fitzherbert kept the matching portrait of him as a keepsake.

Most lotus blossoms are far more pink than orange, and in ancient times, padmaraga was described as a subvariety of ruby. Today, some define the gem's color as a blend of lotus and sunset.

The original source for padparadscha is Sri Lanka (Ceylon) and purists believe the term should be restricted only to stones from Ceylon. However, fine stones have also been found in Vietnam’s Quy Chau district, Tanzania’s Tunduru district, and Madagascar.

Friday, 26 May 2017

It's the first work made after 1980 to sell for more than $100 million.

It's a spectacular increase from the last time the painting, "Untitled," was sold -- it fetched a mere $19,000 in 1984. 33 years since then, the picture depicting a skull-like head has remained stashed away. It is now the sixth highest price ever for a work of fine art and blew away the auction house's pre-sale estimate of $60 million. It also tops the $105 million paid in 2013 for a Warhol.

Dustheads (1982): $48,843,752

Raised in Brooklyn, Basquiat was a maverick of the New York art scene in the 1980s. Of Puerto Rican and Haitian descent, he initially gained attention for his graffiti. He died in 1988 at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose.

Wednesday, 24 May 2017

Christian Dior, (21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer, best known as the founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, also called Christian Dior, which is now owned by Groupe Arnault.

Bernard Jean Étienne Arnault is a French business magnate, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of LVMH, the world's largest luxury goods company. He is the richest person in France, and the 8th richest person in the world according to Forbes. In April 2017, his net worth is estimated to be US$51.7billion.

Enstatite belongs to the pyroxene group of minerals and was first described in 1855. Enstatite gemstones have a hardness of 6 on the MoHs scale and have a vitreous luster when polished.

Some of the finest enstatite specimens come from Burma and Sri Lanka. Cat's eye enstatite and star enstatite gemstones are known, but are extremely rare.

Enstatite occurs in a wide variety of colors ranging from reds and oranges, which are the most common, to yellows and greens, white, and colorless. Pure Enstatite is transparent and lightly colored; the iron content is responsible for the darker colors and increased opacity.

Sunday, 21 May 2017

Andalusite is an aluminum silicate closely related to both sillimanite and kyanite. All three minerals are polymorphs. They share the same chemical composition, but possess different crystal structures. Andalusite is a strikingly beautiful gem, but it is one of the lesser-known gem types in the trade.

Andalusite gemstones are found in very distinct combinations of colors, with a very pronounced level of pleochroism.

New-found appreciation for andalusite is greatly owed to its unmistakable and unique twist on play of color. For many years andalusite has primarily been a collector's stone, but it has recently gained attention from jewelry designers.